Over the last decade the UK has helped Rwanda to make significant progress in tackling corruption. This has included building effective institutions for accountability and strengthening financial controls. Since 2010, the UK has contributed £19 million to public sector reforms in Rwanda. Support from the UK and other development partners has enabled Rwanda to achieve the following results:

The UK provided £8.8 million to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning through two consecutive programmes from 2010 to 2017 which has: expanded reach and capability of the financial management information system, strengthened public procurement and developed the internal audit function. The quality of public financial management has steadily improved as suggested by successive international assessments.

The UK has been the leading development partner of the Office of the Auditor General since 2011, which has expanded coverage of expenditure, audit quality and ability to audit complex areas. The level of audit coverage of government’s expenditure has increased from 75% in 2012-13 to 86.6% last year. The UK provided £6 million over ten years to finance the implementation of successive strategic plans.

The UK was a leading donor to the Public Policy Information Monitoring and Advocacy programme, where state and non-state actors promoted citizen participation in the fight against corruption in public service delivery. This included the production of the Rwandan Bribery Index and other projects such as Access to Justice Information Centres and Access to Legal Aid Centres.

The UK is proud to have been a partner in the huge progress Rwanda has made to date and remains committed to working together in the future. Our cooperation increasingly includes peer-to-peer partnerships between Rwandan and British institutions such as the UK Office of National Statistics with the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, HM Revenue and Customs with the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), as well as financial aid. This reflects the depth of the UK-Rwanda relationship in public sector governance and anti-corruption. The UK will continue to work with MINECOFIN and MINALOC to focus on improving anti-corruption and financial management at the local level delivering: stronger management and accounting of financial resources in districts, more effective budgeting and spending of public money and, ultimately, better public services for citizens.

On 8 December, JCB signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the State Water Management Committee of Turkmenistan for the supply of JCB equipment. The deal will potentially help the Turkmen government to effectively manage water use through the Karakum canal, one of the largest human-made canals in the world, and improve irrigation throughout the country.

This is the result of persistent efforts by HMA and the DIT team at the Embassy over the last 10 months. We have regularly lobbied various Turkmen ministries and agencies, involving PM Trade Envoy, Baroness Nicholson.

JCB has been active in the market since 2009, playing key role in the construction industry of Turkmenistan.

About the campaign

At 11:03am on 15 December 2015, Tim Peake, British ESA astronaut, embarked on a Soyuz rocket which would take him to the International Space Station.

We want to know how Tim’s mission, Principia, inspired you or those you know, no matter your age.

Did his mission encourage you to study science or engineering at university? Maybe you are now maintaining antennas for a living, studying a STEM subject at GCSE or A-level, or protecting your local area from coastal flooding?

Let us know by:

• completing our survey (SURVEY LINK TO COME)
• sending us a video recording of how Tim inspired you (more details below)

Make sure you enter to be in with a chance to win some great space prizes and a video call with Tim himself!

Inspiration stories

Inspired by Tim

Lowena designed code for an MP3 player which Tim then used on the ISS. James remembers watching the launch with his sister when he arrived home from school; he then went on to win the UK Space Agency’s SatelLife competition.

Michael and Olivia work at Goonhilly where they maintain and run antennas, one of which was used to talk to Tim when he was on the ISS. Mr Allen told us first-hand how a group of his students who stayed inside during their break time to watch Tim’s launch were inspired to study STEM subjects.

Watch the video above to hear more about their stories!

How to get involved

To get involved, please:

• share your story in our survey
• share your video clip, photo or story on how Tim inspired you using the hashtag #InspiredByTim on social media

We’ll collect the stories and clips together and share them in a celebration of Tim’s mission as we look back on 5 years since Tim went into space.

The campaign will run from 10 December until 31 January 2021, with one lucky participant getting the chance to win a group video call with Tim himself. 10 runners-up will win a space-inspired goodie bag.

• The UK and Canada have today signed a trade agreement in Canada.
• Today’s agreement secures transatlantic trade with a trading partnership worth £20 billion last year.
• Both countries to negotiate a new, tailor-made UK-Canada trade deal in 2021.

The UK’s Deputy High Commissioner for Canada David Reed, and Canadian Deputy Minister of International Trade John Hannaford have today (Wednesday 9 December) signed the UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement in Ottawa.

The signing comes after both countries last month announced an ‘agreement in principle’ to roll over current trading arrangements and begin negotiations on a new, bespoke UK-Canada trade deal in 2021.

Today’s agreement gives certainty for UK businesses exporting goods and services to Canada worth £11.4 billion. The trade deal supports British industries including automotive manufacturing and food and drink, which between them provide jobs for more than half a million people across the UK.

Overall, an estimated £42 million tariff burden on UK exports has been saved. The benefits locked in under the agreement signed today include:

• Future zero tariffs on UK car exports to Canada, which were worth £757 million last year, supporting factories and jobs in our communities. Without this agreement, Canada’s standard tariffs on cars of 6.1% would apply.
• Tariff-free trade on 98% of goods that can be exported to Canada including beef, fish and seafood and soft drinks.
• UK producers will continue to benefit from zero tariffs on many agricultural and seafood exports including chocolate, confectionary, fruit and vegetables, bread, pastries and fish. Last year the UK exported £344m worth of agri-food goods to Canada.
• Without the continuity agreement, Canadian food products such as maple syrup, biscuits and salmon could have been more expensive for British consumers as they would face taxes of up to 8% when entering the UK under the UK Global Tariff.

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said:

This is a brilliant deal for Global Britain. It secures £20bn worth of trade with a friend and ally that shares our commitment to free enterprise, democracy and free trade. It provides certainty for car and food and drink exporters in particular, and paves the way for a more advanced deal that goes further and faster in modern areas like digital and data, women’s economic empowerment and the environment.

The deal also takes us a step closer to joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a high standards agreement of 11 dynamic Pacific nations. Membership would deepen market access for our businesses, help turn us into a global hub for tech and services trade, and strengthen the global consensus for rules-based free trade.

All nations and regions will benefit from preferential access to Canadian markets. For example, together the West Midlands and North West regions exported over £1.2 billion worth of goods to Canada last year, while Scotland and Northern Ireland collectively exported £1 billion.

In under two years, the UK government has agreed trade deals with 55 countries accounting for £170 billion of UK bilateral trade.

Notes to Editors:

• The Agreement text will be laid in the libraries of both Houses alongside an accompanying Explanatory Memorandum and a Parliamentary Report. They will also be published on the gov.uk website.
• Total trade between the UK and Canada was worth £19.9 billion in the four quarters to end of Q1 2020
• The UK will continue to be covered by the EU-Canada FTA during the transition period. This agreement will come into effect on 1 January 2021.
• Source of statistics on trade with Canada: ONS UK Economic Accounts, Q2 2020 release.
• Source of regional trade statistics: HMRC Regional Trade in Goods, Q2 2020 release.